To fully understand the fulfillment of tabernacles in the person of Jesus, you have to take John 7, 8 and 9 in context. Chapter 7 he cries out to those who are dying of thirst, "If you are thirsty, come to me! If you believe in me, come and drink!" In chapter 8 he declares himself to be the light of the world. Remember, tabernacles is also known as the Feast of Lights. Then in chapter 9 he encounters a blind man.

This is nothing new for Jesus. The ancient world was filled with blind people. They lined the streets begging for food and money. Seeking mercy from anyone who might have a heart of compassion. So why all the attention to this particular blind man? As often as they’d encountered the blind, even the disciples were curious: "Why was he born blind? Did he sin? Did his parents sin?"

Jesus replies, "This man was born blind so that you could see the glory of God! God has a purpose for this man in your life." (My translation)

He doesn’t speak a miracle as he’s done in the past. Rather, he does something very odd. He spits in the dirt, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is at least a southerner at heart! Then he mixes the spit into mud and puts the mixture on the man’s eye sockets.

I need to digress here if you don’t mind. Over the years I’ve wondered if this man even had eyeballs, or just empty sockets. When I worked for state mental health, we had a client who had prosthetic eyes, and when they would come out (as they often did and we had to search for his eyeballs on the floor or outside in the grass or dirt) his appearance was completely different than when the eyeballs were in place. His entire facial features changed when his eyes were not in place.

I bring that up because when the man later goes to the people who had known him all his life, his features apparently had changed so much they didn’t even recognize him! I think Jesus took the dust from the ground, spit in it and formed eyes for this man … but that’s just my opinion. Seems to fit the occasion, though. And it’s a pretty darn good opinion if I say so myself!

He sends the man to the Pool of Siloam. Fascinating! The very water rom which the priest had been filling the golden pitcher all week. The very water that represented to them salvation. And in that water the man washed his face and for the first time in his life he has sight!

What’s going on? I think Jesus is dramatizing tabernacles! Out of the waters of salvation literally comes sight. The Light of the World has given this man sight through the washing of the waters of salvation … that God might be glorified and that his disciples might literally see the glory of God!

In a sense, tabernacles is a continual feast.

Atonement? It’s done.

First fruits? Done.

Passover? Done.

Trumpets? Done.

But because heaven is the ultimate tabernacle of God, there is a sense in which we still celebrate with joy the water of salvation and the light of the world. After all, the well of salvation is to be flowing from within us as Christ flows out from us to those in a lost world.

Charles Dutton was the star of the Broadway production, The Piano Lesson. He spent years in prison for manslaughter. When asked how he made such a remarkable transition, he replied, "Unlike the other prisoners, I never decorated my cell." We are not to become so attached to our possessions and positions that we forget that in our hearts, we live in tabernacles. Spiritually we are homeless … living in tents … while our hearts long for heaven.

I’ve enjoyed sharing these feasts with you! There’s one more. A feast that came along after the Torah was written. It’s Jubilee. I’ll share that later. Because of our moving (pray for us to have physical strength as we’re just too old to be doing this), I may be absent for the next few days. Let me close this series with words from Paul:

Do not let anyone make rules for you about eating and drinking or about a religious feast, a New Moon festival, or a Sabbath day. These things were like a shadow of what was to come. But what is true and real has come and is found in Christ! Col.2:16 – 17.

Another band of priests would go to the Kidron Valley and gather special branches that were used to build a small tent over the tabernacle (and later the Temple) altar.

Just before the sacrifice of Tabernacles, the first priest would ascend the steps to the altar and pour the water from the golden pitcher over the sacrifice. Simultaneously, a second priest would ascend the other side of the altar and pour wine over the sacrifice. Water, the symbol of salvation. Wine, the symbol of joy.

This was done every day of the week amidst great celebration of music, spiritual choreography (the "D" word for us church of Christ people), and praising God almost unrestrained. And all of this just to get some water and pour it over the altar.

The Levites (ancient praise team, four-part harmony of course and using shaped notes) would sing the great Hallel psalms (113 – 118) and at certain verses the people would wave their willow and palm branches and cry for the salvation of God, praying for Messiah to come.

Think about this: Tabernacles was the shadow of Christianity. Just anticipating Messiah would elicit ecstatic celebration! Dancing. Waving branches. Songs. Music. Joy. We live in the reality of Tabernacles and our churches are in turmoil because some of us want to celebrate Messiah! Hmm . . . . .

Stay tuned. If you want some context for how Jesus fulfills Tabernacles in his ministry, read John 7. I’ll give you some great points of emphasis tomorrow.

During the week of Tabernacles, they would construct a small tent (or booth) on the roof of their homes and live in that booth for the week. It was made of willow and / or palm branches and held only the barest of necessities.

For those of us in the American Restoration Movement churches, it is interesting (in a sad way) to note that by the time Jesus was ministering on earth, the various religious groups had divided into camps over just how this tent was to be made and exactly which branches were acceptable to God! Shades of us!!

The feast was a reminder of the 40 years of wandering in the desert as well as a reminder that in their hearts they would always live in tents … that they were, in fact, strangers on this earth and their real home would be that "city with foundations whose architect and builder is God."

Tabernacles reminded them of God’s protection … the shekinah that not only led them through the desert and into the Promised Land, but protected them.

When I was growing up, the more high tech Sunday Schools had flannel boards and when we learned about the wilderness wanderings (which seemed to be every year), the cloud always looked like a white tornado! I think it probably would look more like a mushroom cloud to protect them from the heat of the sun during the day and to serve as a canopy of heat at night when the desert temperatures could vary 40 – 50 degrees in a 24-hour period. That cloud literally became their dwelling place. This is more relevant to me as we are moving into the desert of California this weekend.

More on the feast itself tomorrow … this is my favorite of the feasts, especially when placed in the context of Jesus’ fulfillment, so stay tuned!

One particular client, Steve, was terrified of needles. I drew the short straw and had to take Steve to the mental health office for his TB skin test … just a very slight, painless prick of a needle under the skin.

Not a sound from Steve. The test was done about 1:00 that afternoon and Steve didn’t go home until 3:00. The bus route was a 90-minute trip, Steve being the last client to be dropped off. I was driving the bus that day so about 4:30 I let Steve off at his house. Knowing his mother (they attended church where I preached), I stopped to talk with her a few minutes. Meanwhile, Steve gets off the bus, goes into the house, walks out the back door to the back porch and lets out the most blood curdling scream I’ve ever heard!

"What’s wrong with Steve?!" I asked.

"He had his TB test today, right? That’s how he deals with shots. He waits until he gets home and then he responds to the pain."

In a sense, that was Atonement. You could ignore your sins for a while … but you knew come the second week of Tishri, you were going to have to face the pain and embarrassment and humiliation of the 10th day of the 7th month.

But then comes Jeremiah and God speaks through the prophet: I will make a new covenant. Not like Sinai … I will be your God and you will be my people. I will remember your sins no more…!

No more humiliation! No more embarrassment! No more Atonement! No more goats! (Tough on the people of Judah, being the "southern" tribes! But hey, you can’t have everything in life, can you?) No more high priests! Take a few minutes and read Hebrews 10:10 – 22.

Now go with me back to the upper room discussion about the "many rooms" in the Father’s house (John 14). Jesus promised he was going to prepare a place so that where he was, there his disciples could be.

Under the old system in which Jesus lived, there was only one room and room for only one in the "Father’s house" (temple), and that one person was the high priest. And only one day out of the year. And with very much fear. But in Jesus? There are many rooms! And we are invited in!

All of the sacrifices of Atonement could never remove sin. Not permanently. But after Christ offered the one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God … his one sacrifice making us perfect forever! The priest under the old law could never sit down in the Most Holy Place. The only seat in there was the mercy seat and it was God’s throne, not man’s. To sit down meant the work was done. It was an act of rest. The work of the high priest was never done. Only our high priest, Jesus of Nazareth, ever sat down.

Jesus is at rest with our salvation. His work is done. His atonement complete and perfect. His offering was worthy to not only cover our sins, but to remove them completely! And if Jesus is at rest with our salvation, then we can certainly relax in what he’s done and rest as well.

Doesn’t mean we get lazy, but it does mean we stop striving to do enough and be good enough and relax in what God has done, which by the way, pleases Him completely! And in our relaxation, we will work harder for the kingdom than we ever would under a legalistic system of rules and requirements because our respond is out of gratitude. Paul tells us by grace, we work even harder! (Look it up … 2 Corinthians, I think, but I forget just where.)

Since we have such a great high priest …. Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess…. Let us then approach the throne of greace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need! Heb.4:14, 16.

Is this good stuff or what?!?! Next Feast (when I get around to it): Tabernacles

Back to the Feasts of the Jews… If you are just joining us, the first two articles on Atonement can be found here and here.

The rabbis said, "Until you have seen Atonement, you have never seen sorrow."

After sacrificing for his own sins, two goats were selected by the high priest to be sacrificed for the sins of the people. He would lay his hands on the head of one goat and repeat the sins of Israel over that goat. This would be the second time you heard your sins aloud that day. This process could take hours, but there was nothing else to be done on that day until atonement was complete.

The priest was symbolically polluting that goat with all the sins of Israel. The goat was then killed, it’s blood caught in a basin and sprinkled on the altar. The remaining blood was carried into the Most Holy Place (MHP) and poured over the mercy seat … which was stained with the blood of past years.

When the high priest entered the MHP, he represented every man, woman, and child in Israel. To say the least, it was a most frightening and solemn moment. If God accepted the sacrifice, the priest would emerge from the inner tent. Should God reject the offering, the priest would die on the spot. And since no one could enter the MHP to retrieve his body, tradition says a rope was tied to his ankle so if he died, the Levites could pull his body out. We’re also led to believe he wore a bell so the Levites could hear him moving about. This was very serious business!

The priest also wore a linen robe and linen undergarments so as not to sweat in the MHP. Sweat, if you remember, was the signature of man’s rebellion to God. After the sin that polluted creation and humanity for the duration of time, Adam worked out of his own strength and sweat. You could not bring the offering of atonement with the signature of the fall! For the life of me, I can’t imagine a high priest entering that room and not sweating!

All of the above was done by faith. The people saw nothing other than their high priest entering with a basin of blood and exiting with an empty basin. But it was not over . . .

There was a second goat. The high priest would lean over this goat and, you guessed it, repeat the sins of the people of Israel again. For the third time that day, they heard their sins announced! For the third time that day they felt the weight of their sins. For the third time that day, they were embarrassed by their sinfulness.

The second goat was then sent off into the desert (symbolic of their sins leaving the camp) and when it was but a speck on the horizon, the people could finally rejoice! 

Installment 4.0 (the final article on this feast) tomorrow . . .  

Yesterday I stated the problem requiring the need for atonement: How could holiness (God) dwell among wickedness (you … okay, and possibly me!)?

Inside the tabernacle (and later the temple) was a veil that set apart the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place or Holy of Holies. To grasp the significance of this, visit a nearby Guitar Center and go to the acoustical guitar room. Think of that as the Holy Place. Inside that room is another, smaller room with the very high-end guitars. Think of that as the Most Holy Place. And be careful when you leave that you don’t walk into the glass doors! (See this blog if you are in the dark.) 

The Most Holy Place (MHP) contained the ark of the covenant (which contained the rod of Aaron, the stone commandments, and some manna). Covering the ark was the mercy seat … solid gold … the throne of God on earth. Eventually covered with the dried blood of years of sacrifices. Also inside the MHP was the shekinah, the manifest glory of God. Light that was never created but always existed. 

No one dared enter the MHP except the high priest of Israel, and he entered only ond day a year, and then with great trepidation.

Before the high priest entered the MHP, each person in Israel was required to remember every sin committed that year. You went through the law and recalled every transgression of law. Every sin. (The argument might be made that in some ways, April 15 / IRS in our nation is patterened after atonement, but I digress.)

The priest would do the same. No excused absences. You couldn’t say, "We scheduled our vacation for the 10th of Tishri. We’ve always gone to Yosemite the second week of Tishri!" This was one Sabbath you stayed at home. You didn’t think of calling in sick.

Next week: The sacrifice for atonement . . .

Just after returning from a trip to Africa, a man sat in a restaurant with a friend, discussing his trip. The friend asked, "Did anything unusual happen while you were over there in the jungles?"
"No, not really."
"Nothing? No elephant encounters, no stalking lions, no warriors with poisoned darts? Nothing?"
"No, none of that. But my buddy, Ernie, had a rather unusual experience."
"Really? What happened to Ernie?"
"I’ll let him tell you." He pulls out a matchbox from his pocket, opens it and removes a little man only 1" tall. "Ernie, tell my friend what you said that made that witch doctor so angry!"

Make God mad enough and he’s just waiting to zap you … sinners in the hands of an angry God … sort of view was my experience early in church. Then, against all I’d been taught, I discovered God is not the God of retaliation, but the God of restoration! The ancient Hebrew’s Feast of Atonement was a reminder to Israel of God’s holiness in juxtaposition to her wickedness. But in reality, Atonement was all about God’s mercy.

The problem was simply stated: How could a holy God dwell among sinful people? At the heart of God’s covenant with Israel was his promise, "I will dwell among you."

In part, the solution was a physical model of the spiritual dwelling place of God. TheTabernacle.  

All the tribes of Israel were encamped around the Tabernacle and just outside the entrance to the Tabernacle was the tribe of Judah … which is interesting because Judah means "praise." The psalmist writes in Ps.100:4 "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise…" You could not enter the Tabernacle / presence of God without coming through Judah. Literally, you came into the dwelling place of God through praise!

Again, Psalm (spelled "Osakn" when you place your right hand in the wrong position on the keyboard) 22:3 declares: God inhabits the praises of his people.

If you came to God at all, you came through praise, but the problem remained: How could holiness possibly dwell among wickedness? The solution: Atonement.

More tomorrow . . .

Sing praises to God, our strength.
  Sing to the God of Jacob.
Sing! Beat the tambourine.
Play the sweet lyre and the harp.
Blow the ram’s horn at new moon,
and again at full moon to call a festival!
For this is required by the decrees of Israel;
it is a regulation of the God of Jacob.
He made it a law for Israel
when he attacked Egypt to set us free.

I heard an unknown voice say,
“Now I will take the load from your shoulders;
  I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.
You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you;
I answered out of the thundercloud and
tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah.

“Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings.
O Israel, if you would only listen to me!
You must never have a foreign god;
you must not bow down before a false god.
For it was I, the Lord your God,
who rescued you from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.

Verse 10 declares, “For it was I, Yahweh your God, who rescued you
from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good
things.”

The picture there is that of baby birds in a nest,
completely reliant upon God for everything! God is, in effect, saying, “I am El Shaddai,
God Almighty. All you have to do is learn to accept your position and open wide
and I will fill your needs.”

Just a cursory look at Israel’s history bears out this
truth.

Slaves / Exodus
Hungry / Manna
Thirsty / Water
Attacked / Moses lifts
his arms and armies fall
Cold / Pillar of fire
Hot / Shadow in the desert.

At 6pm, as trumpets were blown, the Levites would sing Psalm
29, a song of the voice of God. The focus all day was to listen and hear God!

Paul tells us in Colossians 2:16 this feast was literally
fulfilled in Christ Jesus. John hears the voice of Jesus, Revelation 1:10, a
voice like a trumpet! In so many words, John declares: There is
the trumpet!

Trumpets said to wake up and realize who you are and how you
are to live … as light in the darkness (Eph.5:8 – ff).

Many years ago when Janice and I were newly married, we took
a Sunday afternoon nap on a rather warm, balmy winter day, about mid 60s temperature. When we woke up, the
temperature had dropped over 30 degrees and an ice storm had descended on North Alabama. It was
my first experience to see an ice storm and was indescribably beautiful! Crystals of ice covered everything, shimmering
reflections of light like millions of diamonds.

Trumpets reminds us we are to be that light to the world …
and to walk by faith in our King.

Trumpets. Jewish New Year. Rosh ha-shanah.

The new moon at the first of the month signified a very holy
day to the Hebrews. A trumpet was blown to say, This month, ushered in by a
new moon, we now set apart for God.

We find Saul (1 Sam.20) celebrating a special meal at each
new moon and everyone who was anyone in Israel was at this meal. Even the
common people stopped what they were doing and remembered God with each new moon.

The night before was complete darkness. Now, the first
sliver of light was a symbol of light shining in the darkness. Prophets saw it
as symbolic of Messiah bringing light and all men rising to that light.

So on the new moon, a trumpet would sound throughout all of
Israel until every person heard. Even Sabbath (a huge deal) could be broken to announce the
new moon.

The new moon of the 7^th month was the Feast of
Trumpets. Trumpets were blown all day long, saying to Israel, Wake up! Pay
attention! Jehovah is God and we celebrate his covenant with us this month!

The blowing of trumpets in Israel symbolized several things:

The kings and leaders of Israel knew they were not the real
authority over Israel. It was a theocracy and God, alone, was sovereign.
Trumpets said, Stop and give attention to your real King!

Trumpets were blown on special occasions such as the moving
of the ark of the covenant or whenever the camp of Israel was to be moved. The
trumpet would blast and Moses would say, “Let God arise and His enemies be
scattered.”

Trumpets were blown whenever Israel was attacked or was to
engage in war; not so much to arouse people as to remind them
that Jehovah was their protection! God wanted them to go out in faith, not
fear.

Interestingly, Israel had some rather quaint rules of
engagement (Deut.20). If you’d recently built a house and had not yet dedicated
your house, you were exempt from war. If you had planted a vineyard and not yet
enjoyed the fruit of the harvest, you were exempt. Engaged to be married? No
problem … exempt. Afraid or a coward? Just didn’t feel like fighting this one?
Exempt! Don’t you just hate it when you want to start a war and nobody feels
like fighting? Bummer!

Remember Gideon? He chose 32,000 men for battle and God
reduced it to 300. Or David and Goliath? For six weeks this pagan giant
challenged Israel and not one man of Israel will take the challenge until David
“hears” the trumpet of God and knows God will be his protection and salvation.
Trumpets was a reminder that God needs just one person willing to go out in
faith.

Continued tomorrow . . .

When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one
could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like
a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they
started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit
prompted them (Acts 2:1 – 4 The Message).

The people are celebrating, as the law required … remembering the giving of the law … waving before God their loaves of bread made with fine flour, oil, and leaven … anticipating the new law to be ushered in by the coming of Messiah. They’d done this for centuries and I’m sure by now it was probably more ritual than any real anticipation of anything out of the ordinary happening. That’s just human nature.

Suddenly something incredible happens! Pentecost … it literally happens! There is a sound which Luke, being a southerner, can only describe as that of a tornado. Many years later, it would have been described like a locomotive rushing toward a mobile home park, but for now it is a tornadic / rushing wind. There are also these strange tongues of fire from heaven and people are speaking and understanding languages they’d never learned. I’m not sure just how that looked, but the flannel graph pictures we saw in Sunday School showed little flames sort of dancing on people’s heads. That, alone, would be enough to get my attention! And, Luke tells us, it all happened about 9a.m. (v.15) … .the same time the people were lifting in worship to God the loaves of leavened bread.

They’d been celebrating this event for generations and their only logical explanation … they are obviously drunk! Now that’s spiritual discernment for you, isn’t it? We’ve never been very accurate in describing the things of God. But how do you explain something like this? We have to place it in a frame of reference that we understand. Something to which we can relate. They were far more familiar with drunkedness than divinity.

I can almost accept that God’s Spirit indwells me. But you?! You can hardly believe the Spirit indwells you, but me?! Or that person at church you like the least and have to force yourself to love? That preacher that drives you crazy with his non-traditional ways? Or his insitence of holding fast to the traditions and orthodoxy. Those elders that allow all this progressivism … or deny any progression. No way!

Which reminds us that unity can only be achieved when our focus is on Jesus and not on each other. Because Jesus accepts imperfection in you and me (grace and justification), we have no option but to accept it in one another.

The beauty of Pentecost is that perfect God would come to live in imperfect people and work from within to bring us into a relationship of covenant fellowship. It’s not based on who we are or what we’ve done or anything we might possibly offer. Rather, it’s based entirely on who God is and what he’s done and is doing for us, in us, and through us. Christ in us.

Interestingly, when the first law was given, three thousand people died at Sinai. When the new law is given, three thousand people are saved! When man attempted to reach God by man’s effort (Babel), God stopped it through the confusion of language. When God came to dwell with man on His terms (Pentecost), he accomplished it through a common language!

Chuck Swindoll once wrote: "There are realms of earthly experience we’ve never traveled … depths of God’s love we’ve never tapped … and dimensions of the Holy Spirit we’ve never touched." Pentecost is the beginning of that dimension of the Holy Spirit we’ve nevver quite been able to grasp. But there are some implications for us.

One, we see one another through grace and accept one another just as God has accepted us through grace. Wherever I encounger a person whose Father is God, I have a brother or a sister. Unity is not based on uniformity. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. Nowhere does it say we must be identical twins. In spite of our history as those who have it figured out, we don’t! Nor do those we want to deny are our spiritual siblings. The only ones who are saved, are being saved, and will be saved are those who are saved by grace.

Two, we are given law so that we might know sin. I can never realize
nor comprehend my condition until I come face to face with law. It
doesn’t make me sinful, it just shows me as I am. Law declares me
guilty and helpless. There is absolutely nothing I can, in and of
myself, do to change the fact that I am guilty of sin and deserving of
death. But that’s all the law can do. It has no power whatsoever to
change me. Nor was that ever the intent of law. That is why a religion
of rules and regulations is powerless to change me into the image of
Christ. The beauty of Pentecost and the indwelling Spirit of God in our
lives is that we are declared holy and righteous by God and God’s law
is now guiding me from within and giving me life. Abundantly!

Three, we see the law of God as something that gives freedom to live! God’s law is not a straightjacket that restricts and restrains us from the joy of life. I grew up in Sheffield, Alabama, where the Tennessee River makes a bend through the northwestern corner of the state, where Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee converge. Along the Sheffield side of the river are high, dangerous bluffs. Trecherous bluffs. And signs warning people to stay off of the bluffs. We never paid attention to the signs, considering them an obstacle to our freedom to roam about the bluffs. I remember walking around a very, very narrow trail along the side of the bluff, probably 300′ over the river, with my cousin and two uncles when I slipped and would have fallen to my death had not my uncle grabbed me and held me until I could regain my footing. Those signs (that we ignored) were not posted to restrict our freedom … the were posted to give us life! Such is the law of God. Every aspect of his law is an expression of his love and of himself.

Pentecost is the marvelous celebration of divinity residing in humanity. God in man. The Holy Spirit in me! 

Next: Feast of Trumpets . . .